Silver's Good Enough For Me
by Glass Vial
Summary: The sheer force with which he'd done this was enough to cause Nellie to lose her balance. - Oneshot. Mrs Lovett does everything for her beloved Mr T, but actions have consequences. He needs to realise this, before he loses all he has. Semi-fluffy ending.


Nellie Lovett was up early, as usual. She'd been down in the bake house until two in the morning, and now at five had awoken again. She popped her head around the door to the parlour where Toby was still sleeping, and smiled slightly - she'd always had a fondness for children. The cold water she splashed against her face in the bathroom woke her up properly, and she found a clean dress before heading down to the shop.

After pottering around for a few minutes, she realised that she could hear Mr Todd walking around his barber shop upstairs. Ever the caring neighbour, she put some food on a tray for him and carried it up.

"Morning, Mr T." She said as she opened the door.

"Morning." Was all he replied, walking over and taking the tray off her.

She frowned, noticing immediately that he was even more distracted than usual. "Everythin' all right love?"

"Does it _look_ like everything's all right?" Mr Todd glared at her, placing the tray on the dresser and sitting down in his chair.

"What 'appened last night after you closed up? I could 'ear something goin' on up here." She crouched next to the chair.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and sighed. "Bad dream." He muttered, hating how pathetically childish he sounded when he said that.

"What was it about?"

"_Lucy_."

At that one word, Mrs Lovett's heart sank again, like it did every time Todd mentioned his wife. Aside from the fact that she fell more and more in love with Mr Todd as the days went by, whenever he mentioned Lucy he looked so vulnerable, which worried her.

"Mr T . . ." She sighed. "I know you miss 'er. It's never gonna get any easier . . . Not really." She had felt an unusual pang when she thought about Albert, her husband who had died many years ago. She thought she'd got over that.

"I know. I know it won't. But . . . If I can have my revenge . . ."

"You'll 'ave it, love. An' I'll make sure we don't get caught." She told him sincerely.

For once, he actually looked at her and smiled when she said it. "We make a very good team, Mrs Lovett." He admitted quietly, as he slipped back into his memories of his life as Benjamin Barker.

With an almost silent sigh, Mrs Lovett squeezed his arm and went back down to the pie shop.

"'Night, ma'am." Toby yawned sleepily as Mrs Lovett blew the candle out.

"'Night, Toby dear." She kissed his forehead, and went back into the shop. She was about to go down to the bake house when she heard a crash from upstairs. Panicking, she ran up the stairs and into the barber shop.

Mr Todd was sat in the chair with his head in his hands. By the mirror - which had already been broken by Lucy, on the day she'd tried to poison herself - was the picture-frame that contained the photographs of Lucy and Johanna. He'd thrown it at the mirror, sending glass flying to the floor.

"Mr T . . .?" She approached him cautiously.

When she was only about a foot away from him, he spoke. "Get out." He growled, in the same tone he had used numerous times with Toby and Anthony.

"But-"

"I said get out!"

Before she could react he had stood up, and in one swift movement pulled the razor from his belt and cut her across the cheek with it. The sheer force with which he'd done this was enough to cause Nellie to lose her balance, and she slipped to the floor. She stared up at him, unable to bring herself to believe what he'd just done. Todd stared back.

At first, his eyes were still filled with anger, but as he watched her slowly raise a hand to her bleeding cheek he became shocked at what he'd done to her. She felt tears threatening to over come her, and got shakily to her feet. He reached to help her, dropping the razor to the floor, but she shook his hand away. Without a word, she bent her head and walked out.

Sweeney Todd was not a man who was easily ashamed, but what he had done to Mrs Lovett shamed him. As he heard her footsteps on the stairs down to her shop, he shook his head. Why had he done that? Even Anthony - the boy who seemed incapable of doing _anything_ without first consulting Todd - had only ever been yelled at. Now he'd actually physically harmed Mrs Lovett - his friend and partner in crime - when all she had been doing was trying to help him. He kicked the chair in annoyance. He had never felt this guilty before.

She looked at herself in the mirror. The gash on her cheek wasn't as deep as she'd feared, but it had taken a while to stop bleeding. She had found the last of a bottle of rubbing alcohol in the bathroom, and soaked her handkerchief in it so that she could clean the cut. She was crying, and she hated herself for it. It was stupid - she knew what he was like when he was in one of his moods, she should have just left. Despite thinking this, however, she was still incredibly hurt that he'd done it to her, even if by some miracle he hadn't meant to do it.

The next morning, Toby couldn't hide the fact that he was staring at the cut on Nellie's cheek.

"Ma'am . . .?"

"Yes, love?" She already knew what was coming.

"What happened to your cheek?"

"I . . . I had an accident last night."

"It wasn't _him_, was it?" The boy asked in a hushed voice.

"No! Toby, how could you think such a thing about Mr T!" She protested.

_Why are you defending him?_ A voice inside her head said snidely. _You should just tell the boy, tell everyone!_ She busied herself with sorting their breakfasts out before the shop opened.

"Sorry." Toby mumbled, looking at the floor.

"It's all right dearie." She ruffled his hair and sat next to him. "When you've eaten that, could you be a star and go and make sure the seats outside are sorted? I didn't get a chance to finish cleaning last night."

Toby wolfed down his breakfast and went outside. As soon as he had gone, she went down to the bake house to get the first batch of pies. When she walked back up the stairs, she saw Mr Todd sitting at the table.

"Oh." She said quietly.

"That's . . . _Not_ a good reaction." He sighed.

Nellie set the pies down on the counter, and lent against it. They both eyed each other warily for little under a minute. With another sigh, Todd met her eyes.

"Last night . . ."

"Don't."

"Let me." Todd pleaded. "Last night . . . I was an idiot. I never meant to . . ." He looked at her cheek, and shook his head. "I suppose what I'm trying to say is . . . I'm sorry for hurting you."

Mrs Lovett walked slowly over to the table and sat down opposite him.

"Am I forgiven?"

After all the times he's threatened her before, never once had he actually apologised and asked for her forgiveness.

"Of course you are, Mr T. An' . . . I know I'll never be as good as Lucy - never be as beautiful, or as loved by you - but I think . . . I think I can live with second best. Because at least . . . At least that means I'm a part of this in some way." She admitted.

In an uncharacteristically kind gesture, Sweeney stood up and put his arms around Nellie, hugging her close to him. She blushed, smiling, and hugged him back.


End file.
